Donald Trump's Un-American Campaign Rolls On

A new poll has Donald Trump way ahead. Polling at 36%, Trump is 20 points in front of his closest competitor, Sen. Ted Cruz. Ben Carson is polling at 14% and Sen. Marco Rubio is at 12%. Nobody else is even close.

A few months is a long time in American politics, although for now it appears that either Trump, Carson, Rubio or Cruz will take the Republican nomination. To some extent, it's hard to be any more precise than that. We'll have to wait and see how things unfold once the primaries get going in February.

Conventional thinking says that, if Trump were to win the nomination, Hillary Clinton would coast to the presidency. Given Trump's lack of relevant experience and utterly un-American policy prescriptions, this line of thinking makes a lot of sense. But one thing that's not entirely clear is what mainstream Republicans would do if Trump won the nomination. Would most publicly back Clinton? Might many not turn out to vote at all? Would some decide to support Trump believing that anybody is better than Clinton? Or maybe some would cautiously back a Trump candidacy hoping that, if elected, he'd eventually hire some people with relevant experience (to ensure his ludicrous campaign) turns into a slightly less silly presidency?

"Are you really trying to posit the idea that Trump is a naif to realpolitik?"

Yes Trump is a naif to realpolitik as most citizens evidently are.

For example, as much as the rich (and everybody else) probably looks for ways to pay as little federal taxes as possible, I would not be surprised if all wealthy US citizens like Trump are unaware of the Supreme Courts clarification of Congresss limited power to appropriate taxes.

”Congress is not empowered to tax for those purposes which are within the exclusive province of the States.” - Justice John Marshall, Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.

In other words Trump is probably not aware that he is paying taxes for federal services that the states have never delegated to Congress, expressly via the Constitution, the specific power to regulate, tax and spend for.

In fact, one of the very few federal spending programs that the Founding States actually delegated to Congress the specific power to tax and spend for is the US Mail Service (1.8.7). In other words, I can argue that most domestic federal services that you can name other then the US Mail Service are unconstitutional and be right about most of them.

"What constitutional straitjacket? Obama must have escaped from it like Houdini."

Note that Trump is at least talking about taxes and interstate / foreign trade, two issues of a handful of things that the feds actually have the constitutional authority to stick their big noses into.

On the other hand, regarding immigration issues for example, consider that Trump is probably clueless that the writings of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, Madison generally regarded as the Father of the Constitution, clearly indicate that the states have never delegated to the feds, expressly via the Constitution, the specific power to regulate immigration. Immigration is therefore a 10th Amendment-protected state power issue, not the business of the corrupt feds unless the states amend the Constitution to grant the feds the specific power to regulate immigration.

Getting back to taxes, I would also not be surprised if Trump is unaware of the following. A previous generatons of state sovereignty-respecting justices had clarified that Congresss power to appropriate taxes is limited to what it can justify under its constitutional Article I, Section 8-limited powers.

”Congress is not empowered to tax for those purposes which are within the exclusive province of the States.” - Justice John Marshall, Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.

Given Congresss limited power to tax and spend, note that maintaining the US Mail Service (1.8.7) is actually one of the few ”social spending” programs that the states have actually given Congress the express power to manage. In other words, it can be reasonably shown that the states have never delegated to Congress, expressly via the Constitution, the specific powers to tax and spend for things like Social Security, Medicare, Obamacare, INTRAstate schooling, the EPA, etc..

Consider that constitution-ignoring FDR and the corrupt Congress at the time wrongly established many federal spending programs without the required consent of the Constitutions Article V state majority.

In fact, on his campaign trail, and just like FDR should have done but did not do, Trump should be talking about working with state and federal lawmakers to propose new amendments to the Constitution to the states, amendments that would delegate to the feds the specific powers to do the things he envisions for making America great again.

For example, since the states have never delegated to the feds, expressly via the Constitution, the specific power to regulate, tax and spend for a national healthcare program for example, Obamacare and any national healthcare program that Trump might establish are unconstitutonal regardless what lawless Obamas activist justices want people to think about Obamacare.

”State inspection laws, health laws, and laws for regulating the internal commerce of a State, and those which respect turnpike roads, ferries, &c. are not within the power granted to Congress [emphases added].” - Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.

But if the states think that they can individually do a better job with their own custom healthcare plans than the feds can with a ”one size fits all” national healthcare program, then the states have constitutional authority to say no to a national healthcare program.

So regardless that Trump wants to lower taxes, he would probably be very surprised how much he must lower taxes to make the unconstitutionally big federal government constitutionally compliant.

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